What Google AMP Means for You

If mobile technology were devised for the people on-the-go, then why is it slower than the fast-paced generation today? Mobile browsers can’t keep up and are prone to a lot of problems due to bugs and advertisement overload, which seems to slow down and even lead to frequent crashes. This is a dilemma shared by a lot of mobile users, and they are looking forward to innovative updates to make mobile browsing fun and lightning fast.

The Need for Mobile Speed

There is a content problem in mobile web technology and it can become very annoying and unproductive, especially for mobile users who regard their phones as allies for work and leisure. Google’s Zero Moment of Truth, which was a philosophy introduced in 2011, clearly states the point that Google wants to radically impact and improve the performance of mobile web technology; however, it’s not there yet – but almost. Apart from low-quality ads, malware and poor page-load speeds play a significant role in why most mobile users prefer apps to normal mobile media browsing.

It’s not just Google and mobile users who are at the losing end with dragging web browsing technology, advertisers are also crying “foul” because each time a webpage fails to load or takes too long to load – they automatically lose traffic conversions. Readers just get tired of waiting and quit. They cannot grab customer attention and retain it if pages take too long to load.

What is Google AMP?

Google AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages is an open source project designed to enable publishers in creating mobile-optimized content once and replicate it by having it load up instantly everywhere. This project which was first introduced by Google in October of 2015, and officially went live on February 24, 2016, with the objective of speeding up mobile browsing experience by implementing certain standards on streamlining ads and boosting page speed. The thing is – mobile reach is extensive but lacking in engagement. This is what Google, along with its publishers, aim to solve with the AMP project.

AMP pages provide lightning speed reading experience for mobile users because these won’t run on JavaScript. AMP also gets to limit analytics and advertising while pages are preloaded on servers so these can automatically run once requested. Strategically, AMP loads up the content first and is followed by the ads for a streamlined reading experience. Google provides special treatment for pages that follow the technical specifications.

Google AMP is all about taking the mobile technology notches higher and not leaving anyone behind the trail. It’s allows every advertiser and publisher to join in and accelerate mobile web experience. Google wants fast and rich content for graphics, animation, and videos that would work together with smartads while everything loads instantaneously. The AMP project utilizes AMP html which enables light-weight web browsing.

Mobilegeddon at Your Fingertips

If you try to search using your mobile phones, you will find AMP content gets top-billed and the rest lies beneath it. You can easily identify AMP content because it has a green lightning bolt icon. With AMP-optimized pages, loading speed of mobile phones will now surpass desktop versions as mobile browsing loads in a matter of 2.99 seconds as compared to desktop loading time of 3.82 seconds.

Mobile Content is King

Google’s cornerstone is built on the fact that users love content. Don’t we all agree that content is king? But now it’s not just content that matters – it’s all about delivering fast and reliable content. The faster the loading time, the more content is out for consumption.

AMP - A Collaborative Work in Progress

For publishers who are not yet AMP-compliant, you could be getting major pangs of competition from AMPlified websites or publishers. Small businesses could also be affected here, especially if your apps have been raking in significant traffic for years now. Everything could change in the mobile platform because of AMP, which could either work for you or against you.